Hiya Snafu,
I too am in the UK and now and again have the dreaded Host Lost Con sign, this very evening i was 1k on a F4u's 6 and about to let rip with some 50's and guess what yeppers lost conn and 1 missed kill :-(
As for it being anything to do with all the New n Great Free access from UK i can't see it being so, I think it,s just a Link Prob, I have Colt as my ISP's backbone here on my Screaming Conn and it Pings pretty good usually to AH, What i think it may be caused by is a Glitch in Lines across the ole pond, This is what i was told by a BT Engineer m8e of mine (also BT are doing a mega mega overall of all lines n local exchanges to get ready for the new numbers coming out soon and this has been identified as a possible glitch to some systems) again this is what i have been told (i am in noway any type of expert) but it sounds like the most possible cause of our little probs
Hope this may help ya some
Kipper
Have Fun n Kill